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Monopodia
Monopodia is the capital of East Kaya. With a population of 4,378,150 in the city as the 2012 census and a greater metropolitan population in excess of 14,000,000, it is the largest city in Sednyana, the fourth-largest city on the Southern Continent, and the eleventh-largest city in the world. It is a powerful global city and a center of Sednyanese culture, finance, and technology. Extremely multicultural and multiethnic, Monopodia is one of the world's most diverse cities, which prompted it to be often listed as one of the cultural capitals of the world. Monopodia was founded at the mouth of the Kaya River, where it lets out into the Outer Ocean, by Celton settlers moving north from Durham, in the late thirteenth century, and was officially incorporated in 1392. Monopodia became the center of the Kaya Colony, and when Sednyana became a kingdom in 1305, Monopodia became the state capital. It grew quickly in size and influence, and by the creation of the Federation of Sednyana it was the nation's largest city. It was seriously considered as a candidate for national capital in 1305, though overlooked in favor of Kia Boya because of its allegiance to the state of East Kaya, which Ross feared would give that state, already the most populous, too much influence. Since then, Monopodia has been the center of culture, business and immigration to Sednyana; because of this, it has become known as a "revolving door city," constantly filled with new immigrants who then move inland after a generation or two to make room for new immigrants in the city. This has made Monopodia one of the world's most diverse cities; even today, nearly a third of the population was not born in Sednyana, and nearly half are a first- or second-generation immigrants. It is known as a melting pot of culture, with its own distinct cuisine, music, art, and entertainment scenes. It is also a business hub, and the city in Sednyana with the highest GDP, as well as the fifth-largest GDP of any city in the world. History See History of Sednyana. Geography Monopodia is located at the mouth of the Kaya River, the largest river in Sednyana by both volume and length. Its location has helped make it such a prominent center of trade, as much of inland central Sednyana, including East Kaya, West Kaya, South Fera, northern Alto, and parts of Toka, could only be accessed from the sea by passing through Monopodia's port. It is slightly more than halfway up the coast of East Kaya, closer to Kia Boya than to Cethen. Its metropolitan area, by far the largest in Sednyana, stretches far inland through a flat and marshy area known as Lakeland, though most of it has now been developed into an enormous suburban sprawl. The metropolitan region also extends south along the coast through the cities of Point Laymore and St. Michelle. 'Climate' Monopodia is considered to have a humid subtropical climate, experiencing warm summers and mild winters. Summers are generally hot and dry, with highs frequently exceeding 30 degrees ST; the record high, in the month of January, was 41 degrees. Winters, by contrast, are quite mild, with highs rarely dipping below 10 degrees, and lows generally above freezing. It has now snowed in five years, although there is frequently frost in the coldest months of July and August. Winter and spring are generally much rainier than summer and fall. The leaves in Monopodia in fall do not change as they do in the western parts of the state and West Kaya. Demographics Monopodia has a population of 4,378,150, making it the largest city in Sednyana, third on the Southern Continent, and eleventh-largest city in the world. It is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Only 34% of the city's population is white, while 36% are black, of which 10% are Incean and 26% are of other ancestry, mostly from Ukar, Zenia, Tara, the Central Kingdoms, or Artius. A further 14% of the city is considered to be of the Southern race, while 6% are Noly, 2% are Northerner, and eight percent are of some other ancestry. As of the 2012 census, approximately 74% of the city had one or more grandparents born outside of the country, the highest number of any major city in Sednyana, and 46% had one or more parents immigrate to Sednyana. Of these, 33% were born outside of Sednyana themselves. In modern years, the largest immigrant groups have been Zenians and Ukaris, although Toranese, Norikis, Tyrenneans, and Rhamidians also account for large portions of the foreign-born population. Economy Monopodia has by far the highest GDP of any Sednyanese city, and has the fifth most active economy of any city in the world, after Marshall City, Caristopolis, Ptolomaise and Emparaz. It is the headquarters of Metropolitan Bank, Sandford Electric, Fiedler Motors, the LANA group, and numerous other comporations. It contains Sednyana's most active stock exchange, the Monopodia Stock Exchange (MSE), the fourth most traded stock exchange in the world. Monopodia also gains a considerable amount of revenue from tourism, although it is less visited than Ross City or Kia Boya. Culture Monopodia is considered one of the cultural centers of Sednyana, along with Cethen, Ross City, Kia Boya and Niavara. While Cethen is often considered the heart of traditional Sednyanese culture, Monopodia is an international melting pot of different cultures. Monopodia has been rated an alpha+ world city for culture, a distinction shared with only Caristopolis and Varnessia. There is an active music scene in Monopodia. Many notable musicians and bands have come out of Monopodia, including the rock band Diamond Soul, the jazz singer Victoria King, the pop group A-Bomb, and the classical composers Jules Moran and Ivan Stiekerov. There are over a hundred music and comedy clubs throughout Monopodia, mainly clustered around Downtown and the boardwalk, although recently more and more have appeared around Warren Harbor, a formerly industrial district that has been renovated into a popular arts district. The most famous theaters in Monopodia are Chancelor Hall, famous for its symphony orchestra, and the Stanley Theater, which presents everything from sixteenth-century plays to modern rock concerts. Monopodia boosts Sednyana's second largest art museum, the East Kaya Museum of Art, which contains more Sednyanese impressionist paintings than any other museum in the world; only the National Gallery in Kia Boya is larger. Tourists also often visit the Monopodian Museum of Science (MMS), the world's largest science museum, located in the West Park region near the University of East Kaya (see education). Monopodia is considered to be a melting pot of cuisines, and is famous for the cheap ethnic food in its various ethnic neighborhoods, notably Toranese, Noriki, Qotian, Zenian and Ukari. Monopodia is famous for its own style of pizza, developed by immigrants from Deine in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; its birgarek, a pastry based off of the Noriki byirgarik; its hamburgers, which are traditionally served on bread instead of buns, as they are served in Lasterus; and its steak. Monopodia also has a number of prestigious restaurants. The Lasterian food magazine The Restauranteur awarded two restaurants in Monopodia its five star rating and eighteen restaurants its four star rating. Education Monopodia has a competitive public school system, with more than four hundred primary and secondary schools and over 60,000 students, the most of any Sednyanese city. The city also contains five universities, one public and four private. The University of East Kaya (UEK) is the center of the East Kaya public university system, the others being in New Qotopolis, Telphis, Mirandelle, and St. Michelle, and the second-largest university in Sednyana after the SNU (Sednyanese National University). It is located in the West Park region. The University of East Kaya is affiliated with the Turner Institute of Science and Technology, one of the world's preeminent technical universities and one of the "Big Ten" research universities of Sednyana. UEK and the Turner Institute have a mutual partnership that allows top UEK students to attend science and engineering classes at the Turner Institute and students at Turner to access the resources of UEK. Turner is technically a private university although it receives grant money from the government and from the International Bureau of Science and Technology, which has its Sednyanese headquarters in West Park. Turner Institute, in turn, helps sponsor the Monopodian Museum of Science, the world's largest science museum, which is located on the Turner-UEK campus. Monopodia's three other universities are the University of Monopodia, Vallendale University, and the Kaya School of Design, an arts university that partners with UEK and the University of Monopodia for academic classes. Category:Sednyana Category:Cities (Sednyana) Category:East Kaya